Today's Expositor's Quote is from Spurgeon's sermon on Matthew 28:18, which reads in part, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations:"

I have met with some brethren who have tried to read the Bible the wrong way upwards. They have said, "God has a purpose which is certain to be fulfilled, therefore we will not budge an inch. All power is in the hands of Christ, therefore we will sit still;" but that is not Christ's way of reading the passage. It is, "All power is given unto me, therefore go ye, and do something." "But, Lord, what dost thou want from us when thou hast all power? We are such poor, insignificant, useless creatures that we shall be sure to make a muddle of anything we attempt." "No," says the Master, "all power is given unto me, therefore go ye." He puts us on the go because he has all power. I know that with many of us there is a tendency to sit down, and say, "All things are wrong, the world gets darker and darker, and everything is going to the bad." We sit and fret together in most delightful misery, and try to cheer each other downwards into greater depths of despair! Do we not often act thus? Alas! it is so, and we feel happy to think that other people will blend in blessed harmony of misery with us in all our melancholies; or if we do stir ourselves a little, we feel that there is not much good in our service, and that very little can possibly come of it. This message of our Master seems to me to be something like the sound of a trumpet. . . . Here is the power to enable you to "go." Therefore, "go!" . . . The battle has begun, and every good soldier of Jesus Christ must be to the front for his Captain and his Lord. Because all power is given unto Christ, he passes on that power to his people, and sends them forth to battle and to victory.

[Have you cheered others downwards recently, recounting how things go from bad to worse, lamenting that you are unable to do anything to change that course of events? Ask yourself: Who has all authority and power? And what does He tell us to do? There is a war going on -- and He will get the victory! Your part of the battle line may or not have a tactical victory -- but the overall strategy is certain to succeed. Your commander calls you to go and empowers you to obey -- so go! -- Coty]